Speaking to the press, and taking no questions, she said neither she nor Trump will rest until displaced Puerto Ricans are back home, schools, hospitals and clean water are back and the island's economy is moving again.

Mildred Lopez, a Puerto Rican community organizer and wife of the pastor of the Emanuel Church in Plano, says the members of her church are all Puerto Rican.

Even though donations surge soon after a hurricane, people often forget to help with the long rebuilding process, which can take years.

"Congress must immediately take up an appropriations bill to come to Puerto Rico & the US Virgin Islands' aid", Warren wrote. They are working so hard.

The complaints came eight days after Hurricane Maria slammed into the United States territory of 3.4 million people, destroying much of the island's infrastructure.

Many people need money, Ruiz said, but there's no easy way to get cash to them. And House Speaker Paul Ryan said the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) disaster relief account will get a $6.7-billion (U.S.) boost by the end of the week.

The president returned to the issue of financing reconstruction on Puerto Rico on Friday.

Almost a week after Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico, President Trump finally waived the Jones Act for the island, allowing more emergency supplies reach the battered territory's shores.

"I really hope things are worse today than they are going to be tomorrow", Rafael Álvarez, vice-president of Méndez & Co, a food distribution company based in San Juan, told The Guardian.